Sad News on Susan Boyle – Britain’s Got Talent Runner Up

Less than a day after finishing second behind the dance group Diversity at the Britain’s Got Talent finale, Susan Boyle was voluntarily admitted to the Priory Clinic in London to be treated for exhaustion.  The clinic is famed for treating celebrities such as Kate Moss for a variety of problems, including addiction and other mental health issues.

Given the harsh media storm that has greeted Miss Boyle, it shouldn’t probably be any surprise.  I’m very sure I wouldn’t want people standing outside my front door sticking a microphone in my face every time I went out.

For more details, see the story from the Today Show here.

BTW, stats from YouTube show that her original performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables was viewed 220 million times – 5th biggest video in the site’s history!  Pretty damn impressive.

Susan Boyle awes judges; comes in second on Britain’s Got Talent

Following a week in which she was widely criticized, Susan Boyle came back with a bang on the finale of Britain’s Got Talent.  She performed the song that made her a YouTube sensation, “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Miz, this time in a full-length shimmering gown in front of a beautiful stage setting.  The judges, who even gave her a standing ovation, didn’t have enough nice things to say:

From Piers Morgan:  “I’m not supposed to favor anyone, I should be impartial, but you know what, forget it. That was the greatest performance I’ve seen in Britain’s Got Talent history. You should win this competition. I loved it!”

From Amanda Holden: “I have never heard such powerful, confident vocals.  And can I just say, Simon had a tear in his eye and I’ve never seen that before.”

From Simon Cowell: “Win or lose, you had the guts to come back here tonight, face your critics, and you beat them.  And that’s what’s important. You can walk away from this with your head held high, Susan. I absolutely adore you.”

However, the populace of the UK apparently felt differently, voting Susan’s performance to second place behind a dance troupe called “Diversity”.

I’ve never understood British humor; maybe I don’t get this either.

What do you think?  Here is Susan Boyle’s performance.  Here is Diversity’s.  Which do you like better?  I know it’s kind of hard to compare singing and dancing, but apparently that’s how the contest works.  My personal opinion?  Susan was robbed!

Here’s hoping Susan Boyle is able to launch a huge career, like some of the 2nd place American Idols have done!

Google Treasure Chest: Scam City!

I received a CD, for which I paid $1.97 which is exactly what it was worth. Then, I received a charge of $72.21 on my credit card, which I did not authorize, as I called the company the day after I received the disc and told them I wished to cancel my service. The number on my credit card statement was 888-356-1248, which put me through to someone with a foreign accent who could not find my account on the first 4 tries. Funny how they could find it to bill me! Anyways, I could barely hear the guy because their call center is located in a mall kiosk (so he says) where it is VERY noisy. When he finally did find my account, he wanted to argue with me, that I had authorized the charges, so I asked to speak to a supervisor, who was conveniently not there at the time. I may have to keep calling on my auto-dialer to jam up their lines. I will definitely post as many blog comments on this as I can to warn other people – wish I had seen this site before I purchased from them. I did get a cancellation number this time (which I didn’t last time), but no resolution of the current unauthorized charge.

I knew when I ordered the disc, it was probably a scam, but I figured for $1.97, I wasn’t going to worry about it.  Even if I got one good tip off of the CD, it might turn out to be worth that much.  However, now they have charged me $72.21, and from the posts I’ve looked at today, they do that to everyone!

Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

Susan Boyle advances to “Britain’s Got Talent” Finals

Have you seen the clips of Susan Boyle on last night’s “Britain’s Got Talent” finals yet?  (If not, click here.)  Just as fabulous as the first time, this episode shows her singing “Memory” from “Cats” (one of my favorites).  She now advances to the final round, which she is expected to win handily.  I haven’t heard any of her competition, but I think part of the attraction is that she just looks like a regular person.  The articles I read said she is “refusing” to change her appearance.  I don’t know whether that’s accurate, or whether no one has asked her to change anything.  Either way, good for her.  It’s about time we saw people on TV who are not airbrushed, starved, and caked with make-up.

Best of luck to Susan in next week’s finals!

A Memorial Day Poem

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.

A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform;
so young, so tall, so proud.

With hair cut square and eyes alert,
he’d stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
had fallen through the years.

How many died on foreign soil;
how many mothers’ tears?

How many pilots’ planes shot down?
How many died at sea?

How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?
No, freedom isn’t free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
when everything was still.

I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant ‘Amen.’

When a flag had draped a coffin
of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
of the mothers and the wives,

of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea.

Of unmarked graves in  Arlington .
No, freedom isn’t free.

First Dates

My oldest, Robbie, had his first real date a couple of weeks ago when he took his new girlfriend to prom.  He’s liked several girls, and has visited at their house or had them over to ours, but this was the first time he took someone to dinner and out without parents.  I’m so thrilled, as this young lady is so good for him.  They had a blast at prom, then even more fun at after prom.  The school provided an after prom to keep the wild parties to a minimum.  They had several things for the kids to do – velcro suits to jump up & stick yourself to a wall, padded suits to sumo wrestle in, etc.

Not to be outdone, my middle son, Jimmy, decided to turn his 7th-grade dance into a “date”.  Not that he knows what that means, but he liked the idea.  I asked if he was going to kiss his date, and he said, “ewwwwww!”  When we dropped them off, it just cracked me up.  The flyer had said in big capital letters that this was not a formal dance.  All of the boys were on one side, dressed in jeans or shorts.  The girls, on the other side of the school’s driveway, were wearing sparkly dresses, 4″ heels, and fancy hairdos.  The sweetest thing, though, was that one of the boys had brought a single red rose for his girlfriend.  Too cute!

When we picked them up afterwards, we asked them if thye had danced.  Evidently, SHE had spent the evening dancing with teachers, and HE spent the whole time chasing another girl – literally.  He said he ran so fast, he bumped into the bleachers and fell!

The best part is that both of my boys are dating young ladies named “Marissa”!  Such an uncommon name, I can’t believe they both have the same name.

Ah!  The joys of young love!

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Guards

Thanks to friend-of-the-blogger, Bill S., for sending this to me.  I’m proud to post it here.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

1. How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the tomb of the Unknowns and why?

21 steps. It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute, which is the highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary.

2. How long does he hesitate after his about face to begin his return walk and why?

21 seconds for the same reason as answer number 1

3. Why are his gloves wet?

His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his grip on the rifle.

4. Does he carry his rifle on the same shoulder all the time and if not, why not?

He carries the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After his march across the path, he executes an about face and moves the rifle to the outside shoulder.

5. How often are the guards changed?

Guards are changed every thirty minutes, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.

6. What are the physical traits of the guard limited to?

For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he must be between 5′ 10′ an d 6′ 2′ tall and his waist size cannot exceed 30.’ Other requirements of the Guard: They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on or off duty for the rest of their lives. They cannot swear in public for the rest of their lives and cannot disgrace the uniform {fighting} or the tomb in any way. After two years, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only 400 presently worn.

The guard must obey these rules for the rest of their lives or give up the wreath pin.  The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt.  There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for duty in front of a full-length mirror.  The first six months of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone, nor watch TV. All off duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. A guard must memorize who they are and where they are interred. Among the notables are: President Taft, Joe E. Lewis {the boxer} and Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, {the most decorated soldier of WWII} of Hollywood fame. Every guard spends five hours a day getting his uniforms ready for  guard duty.

ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was approaching Washington , DC , our US Senate/House took 2 days off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC evening news, it was reported that because of the dangers from the hurricane, the military members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment. They respectfully declined the offer, ‘No way, Sir!’ Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be afforded to a serviceperson. The tomb has been patrolled continuously, 24/7, since 1930.

God Bless and keep them.

Respecting Curfew

My respite provider says I am doing this so wrong, so I have to ask your opinion.  A few weeks ago, my oldest son started dating a very nice young lady from his school.  He is 18, she is 19.  They are both very immature due to their disabilities, but she has actually been very good for him.  He is a totally different person when she is around, and is maturing a great deal under her influence.

However, he cannot seem to understand that he still has a curfew, particularly on school nights.  A few weeks ago, he came home from her house well after dark, without having called or made any attempt to let us know he would be late.  (At that point, we didn’t know her phone number, so we couldn’t call to tell him to come home.)  So, we grounded him for 1 week.  We also told him that if he didn’t bother to get up on time the next morning, his grounding would be doubled.  You guessed it, he didn’t get up, so he lost 2 weeks of seeing her outside of school hours.

His grounding ended just in time for prom, so they went to that, but we were transporting so he had no opportunity to break his curfew.

Next, she went to her mom’s house for a week (they have shared parenting).  Since her mom lives a bit further from us than her dad does, we again had to transport Robbie back and forth, so he was home on time.

On Sunday, she moves back to her dad’s house, and Robbie goes to visit.  We told him he needed to leave her dad’s house by 7 pm so he was home by 7:30.  He called home about 5:00 and asked if he could stay for dinner.  Again, we told him he had to leave by 7, but as long as they were done with dinner by then, he was welcome to eat there.

He gets home at 7:45, and lies when we asked him what time he left their house, saying he left at 7:00, until I challenged him on it.  Then, he admitted he left at 7:15.  So, I grounded him from seeing her for a week, but said he could keep his phone privileges this time.

On Monday, he brings her home from school with him!  Now he has lost his phone privileges as well.

My respite provider says I should have just forgiven the 15 minutes.  I think that since this has been an ongoing problem, and since he lied, he was asking for it.  Your opinion?

Prom Night in Amish Country

OK, don’t take this the wrong way.  I have nothing but respect for the Amish.  Anyone who is willing to live without electricity and all of the technology / gadgets of modern life can’t be all bad.  That said, I found this too funny!

Farrah Fawcett Cancer Documentary

Did you watch the video Farrah Fawcett made, following her as she underwent cancer treatment?  I hadn’t intended to watch it, but was in the room while others in my family were watching, and I have to admit I kinda got hooked in.